The House Guest: An addictive, gripping psychological thriller from L H Stacey for 2024

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 1,189 ratings

Price: 0.99

Last update: 05-23-2024


About this item

A gripping psychological thriller from bestselling author, L. H. Stacey!

A woman on the run…

Madeleine Frost knows she has to get away from her partner Liam. His behaviour has become increasingly controlling and Maddie fears for her safety and that of her young daughter Poppy.

Desperation leads Maddie to the hotel owned by her estranged father – the extraordinarily beautiful Wrea Head Hall. The reunion is tense, but Maddie’s father agrees to her staying as his guest for as long as she needs.

Maddie’s whereabouts must stay a secret; but as she spends time getting to know her new home, she discovers the house has its own shocking past and secrets of its own. Secrets that could cost her dearly…

And when Liam makes it clear he wants Maddie back, she has to reassess everything. Because when Liam wants something, he gets it - no matter who he hurts…

Perfect for fans of Teresa Driscoll, Sue Watson, Jackie Kabler and Kendra Elliot.

‘Dark and dramatic, with an explosive ending’ Diane Saxon 'An atmospheric thriller with a knockout ending!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️' **Bestselling author Diana Wilkinson 'The plot twists kept me guessing right until the end' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Please Note: this book was previously published as The House of Secrets.


Top reviews from the United States

Physiux
5.0 out of 5 stars Stacey just doesn't write a bad book
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2017
You just can’t go wrong with a book published by Choc Lit, at least not in my experience thus far. When I see their name down as the publisher I go in with positive hopes.

Stacey surely created a story that has a little bit of everything. She creates this main female character that immediately grips your heart with the challenges she’s had to face but also seeing her courage and perseverance as a mother. It has the romance angle to lighten things up a bit which is needed thanks to the tension caused by her ex hell bent on forcing her to do things his way. If all that isn’t enough she’s even sprinkled in a bit of mystery to bring her characters together and heighten the suspense of what more will the evil ex do.

I adored her characters, except for the evil ex of course, and how she used a couple as the tension relievers so you didn’t get bogged down in too much darkness.

I was already a fan of Lynda Stacey from a previous book of hers I read, Tell Me No Secrets, so this just cemented all over again what a great writer she is; I look forward to more!
Melissa
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2017
I Am glad Choc-Lit helped me find these books I thoroughly liked this Great book definitely a gripping suspense thriller with a good story line.
Madeline was a great female character who had so much thrown at her all at once but still kept a great attitude about life. She was faced with an evil man who tries to kill her and her child
M. Stults
5.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful and romantic
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017
House of Secrets is one of few books that drew me in from the beginning and kept me reading it in one day. It is full of suspense, surprises and romance. I didn't like Liam as a person from the beginning and couldn't understand what caused Maddie to move in with him. The locked doors, the endless bottom pond, and the sudden anger he showed creeped me out early on in this book. So I loved how Madeleine would protect her daughter, Poppy from everything and everyone and could see she would have given her life for this little girl. I was happy when she left Liam and moved into her father's hotel where I thought she'd be safe. But then strange things began to happen and you don't understand the cause until about two-thirds of the way through the book. The interspersing of Emily Ennis' diary gives one a sense of life during WWII and a young girl's first love. It also gave interesting information about the house and its tunnels. There are several surprises in the book, some which stunned me, but the ending causes one to sit back and say, "what a great book!"
SD
3.0 out of 5 stars He seemed like a dream come true
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2016
3 1/2 stars

HOUSE OF SECRETS BY LYNDA STACEY

PUBLISHER: CHOC LIT

PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 19, 2016

Maddie moved in with Liam whom she had been seeing for several months. He seemed like a dream come true, until they had been living together for a bit and it became obvious that he was jealous of her daughter, Poppy. Unable to tolerate his verbal abuse of her and his frightening her daughter, Maddie and Poppy move to Scarborough where her father owns a hotel. But it seems that Liam is obsessed and unwilling to let Maddie go.

Bandit, a veteran of Afghanistan, is the gamekeeper at the hotel where his father, who is now in nursing care, once had affiliations. He is trying to determine if his father’s memories about a lady at the hotel have any truth or if his father is slipping farther away.

House of Secrets is pretty well done although it shows the tendency of a new novelist to have overwrought characters, in this case Maddie, who does a lot of yelling, screaming, shouting, and crying, and Liam, who is a bit of an over-the-top villain, as well as action that verges on melodrama.

In romances where either character is just coming out of a relationship within the course of the novel, care should always be given to how quickly a new romance can evolve for it to be realistic, especially in the case of an abused woman whose ability to trust might be undermined.

Stacey writes the novel from several points-of-view, which works and is initially interesting. At the beginning of the novel, to understand Liam’s point-0f-view and see his obsession with Maddie was very well done until he devolved into a caricature of typical abusive men. I guess I thought it would have been extremely interesting if Liam had been a little more charming (or came across as ingratiating to the reader) so that his character would have been more unsettling, especially when written from his pov, where he could have the opportunity to affect the reader’s perception of him.

Besides the main story, there is a background story conveyed via diary entries. This had a fairly predictable outcome.

Some of the nicest scenes were between Maddie and her father, in which they are attempting to establish footing in their newfound relationship.

All-in-all this is a good first novel.

As mentioned above, it was published today. You can find it for Kindle here: House of Secrets.

Thanks to NetGalley and Choc Lit for providing an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
KSheldon
5.0 out of 5 stars Great first novel
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2019
I honestly couldn't put this book down and read it entirely within 24 hours. So well written and story line so engrossing...loved all the characters and backdrop of secrets of decades depicted in this book! Can't wait to read further books by this author.

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